


the past and pending

by electricshoop



Category: Original Work
Genre: (the work title was "peladur n yolo bein buddies. just frens; y'know?"), D&D Fic, Gen, no hands were bein' held but we'll get there, they r friends; yolo just doesn't know it yet!!, very much not Proofread; i'm operating on 2.5 hours of sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 20:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20494751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electricshoop/pseuds/electricshoop
Summary: (don't look too much into the title; you'll find Nothing there, it's simply the one The Shins song that i kept listening to while writing this)*tfw some cool, strong woman tells u magic users "aren't trustworthy", but one of the new friends u made is a magic user





	the past and pending

**Author's Note:**

  * For [intearsaboutrobots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/intearsaboutrobots/gifts).

The silence starts getting heavy somewhere shortly past the one hour mark. 

It's mostly that they're surrounded by noise in theory. A steady stream of idle chattering coming from everywhere; the sharp whistling of the wind every now and then. The sound of Ryan Reynold's snoring (the effect of the "hey, let's look like a human" box has worn off by now, and the owlbear has calmed down for just long enough to fall asleep).

And– well. And silence from Peladur. 

Yolo, perhaps, shouldn't mind it – they didn't think they would – but it seems out of character, too sharp a contrast to the gnome's usual cheery babbling. And still fifty more minutes until the guards are scheduled for their shift change.

So they glance over, in the end, and ask, "You okay?" 

It turns out a little too casual, they think; not genuinely interested enough, but if Peladur notices, they don't let it show. Instead they give a small smile and nod.

"Yes! Of course! I just hope everything goes well, but now we know how to open the door, so I think it should be fine?" It comes out sounding more like a question.

"I'm sure it'll work out," Yolo nods and then, after a few seconds, adds, "You were quiet, is why I'm asking. After you came out of that tent."

Peladur bites their lip and fidgets a little, for just a heartbeat or two, looking torn, and then they nod and lean in closer. "It's just– I was talking to this lady, Huntora, she had a cool scar and was really strong, but…" They trail off, lean in closer still, and whisper (loudly), "But they said some really mean things about magic users? That they– that they aren't trustworthy?" They lean back slowly and look at Yolo, eyes big behind their round glasses.

Yolo raises an eyebrow. They're waiting for a twist, a big reveal, something … just something _else_. But no, seconds pass, and nothing else follows, and Yolo realizes that this is it; that's the entire problem.

They open their mouth to answer, but Peladur notices and quickly, like an afterthought, bursts out, "She seemed very nice otherwise, I think she was just confused or doesn't know much about magic, maybe she doesn't even know any magic users. She probably didn't even mean it."

Yolo laughing is, most likely, not the best reaction here. They realize when Peladur looks something between concerned-and-offended, and they quickly manage to catch themselves. "Sorry," they say, "not laughing about you, promise. It's just…" They shake their head with a grin (and if anybody dared to call the expression "bitter", they'd harshly deny it). "She definitely meant it. It's not exactly an _uncommon_ opinion; no need to get upset about it. You won't ever be finished being upset, otherwise, and I believe we've got more important things to worry about."

As if in agreement: the sound of Ryan Reynolds turning around in his sleep. More snoring.

Peladur frowns, almost causing their glasses to slide off their nose. They push them back up with a determined gesture.

"No, that doesn't make sense," they say. "I told her that I know someone who's good at magic, and–"

Oh, dear.

Yolo sighs and shrugs. "It _doesn't_ make sense, no," they interrupt them. "It never does. Look, no need to worry about it – that's far from the worst thing your strong lady could have said. That's just what some people think." (They're starting to think that Peladur genuinely just … doesn't know about most of the common capital "o" Opinions, so they refrain from pointing out that it's a good thing, really, that the oh-so-strong lady didn't know about the whole "tiefling" thing. ...Or the "necromancer" thing.)

Another bout of silence, not as long-drawn-out this time. And then Peladur shakes their head.

"No," they say again, a little more insistent, "it's not nice of her to say – or, or think! – something like that. Why would people think that?"

Yolo wants to answer, but find that they can't. "I don't know," they simply say eventually. "They just do." It's just one of those things; one of those things you get used to, the same way you get used to being side-eyed when you grab a book on necromancy instead of enchantment; the same way you get used to an irritating itch somewhere where you can't quite reach.

"That's not a very good answer," Peladur says. It sounds like they've just managed to prove every single person who ever looked down on magic users wrong, just by telling Yolo that their answer to the question of "why" isn't good enough. "I can do magic that heals people," they add. "And _you_ can do magic! You helped so much when we were attacked by these bandits! It was really cool!" Their eyes are shining with something that, Yolo realizes with some amount of surprise, seems to be genuine excitement. 

"Well," they start, and then trail off, suddenly overwhelmed. They have no idea how to react to that.

"You're nice." Peladur smiles at them. "So Huntora must have been wrong. She just never met a friendly magic user before. But–" That smile, still. It looks not as forced as before. "–I did. And I know I can trust you, because we're friends, right?"

Yolo very carefully keeps their expression blank. It's harder than it has any right to be, ignoring the urge to just tell them "Look, the last basically-strangers I foolishly called my friends turned out to be insane psychopaths, so that entire topic is a rather complicated one–" 

–but–

But Peladur's eyes are so wide behind their glasses, so honest and innocent, and they're still smiling at them.

"...Yeah," Yolo answers. "Sure, we are."

"See!" Peladur nods, seemingly content with the outcome of their conversation. "Let's go get some more frozen fruit!"

Without waiting for an answer, they're on their feet, tugging at Yolo's cloak for a second, until they get up again, finding themselves smiling slightly. 

**Author's Note:**

> 19% of why I finally sat down and wrote this was so that I could sneakily point out that Yolo's wearing a cloak because they're Dramatic And Edgy in half a sentence.
> 
> thank u, jude, for letting me write this, i hope u like it and that i didn't mess up peladur too much :3


End file.
